Smoking Ban on Hawaii’s beaches

Published on July 14, 2008 9:45 AM

The Hawaii County Council prohibited smoking on all Big Island beaches, parks and recreation areas. The council's nine members showed that smoking ban is now spread only on Kahaluu Beach Park.

A group of middle school students, in order to protect marine life from cigarettes butts, picked more than 2,000 butts from the Kahaluu beach in just 30 minutes. After such results the council decided to ban cigarettes smoking in Kahaluu Beach Park.

"Making smoking illegal in public places is very important, and we all support that," North Kona Councilman Angel Pilago said.

Deborah Zysman, executive director of the Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawaii, said that the top polluters of Hawaii’s beaches are the cigarettes stubs. The council’s members showed that only smoking ban and fine can decrease the number of cigarettes butts in Hawaii’s beaches.

Puna Council woman Emily Naeole, a former smoker, added: "I will support the ban despite objections from family members and friends who smoke. Sometimes we got to do things as leaders that are not going to be very popular."

But some smokers are not agreeing with such a law as smoking ban in public places. They told that cigarettes smoking ban impinges individual liberties. Smokers propose to council to make smoking areas so park visitors don't have to go out onto the road to smoke.

They could not understand why the Hawaii County Council didn’t ban car emissions, barbecue grills, and legal backyard burning because they are also danger for people health but they prohibited only cigarettes smoking.

Clifford Souza, a smoker, said to council: "I’m inconsistent for motorists to be allowed to emit exhaust from their cars next to store entrances and other public places, when smokers have to stay 20 feet away."